06 I July 14, 2013
08 I July 14, 2013
10 I July 14, 2013
12 I July 14, 2013
14 I July 14, 2013
16 I July 14, 2013
18 I July 14, 2013
20 I July 14, 2013
22 I July 14, 2013
24 I July 14, 2013
26 I July 14, 2013
28 I July 14, 2013
30 I July 14, 2013
July 14, 2013 I 35
Restaurant Review
Maida
Terrace and Grill A fresh spin on old buffet favourites
T
he brainchild of the couple b e h i n d Te s s o r o Accessories, Maida Terrace and Grill is a comfortable cabana style restaurant situated in the outer circle of Gaddafi Stadium. The outdoor seating has been nicely landscaped with the creative use of lights and umbrellas. The tiling is done in a Copa Cabana style outside, while the glass and granite décor inside is neat and simplistic. The menu, much like the unfussy décor, is centered on local favourites – barbeque and Pakistani-Chinese cuisine. A fantastic selection of crowd pleasing dishes is offered at a reasonable price of Rs999 per head. The buffet commences with a choice of soup, usually a continental and Chinese combo, with breads baked in-house. The appetizers and salads are followed by an elaborate main course of Chinese dishes and Pakistani dishes and barbeque such as the ever popular kebabs and tikkas. All soft drinks are on the house and there a number of sweet treats for those who really like to indulge themselves. The restaurant operates on a simple policy, aptly
explained by the owner, Hassaan: “if it is good enough for us and our loved ones, it’s good enough for the customer. That is the litmus test and we never deviate from it. A sense of integrity underpins our efforts and it allows us to feel proud of all the hard work we have put in.” Paula and Hassaan moved to Pakistan four years ago, after a lifetime of travelling and decided to open Maida – named after their daughter, following their successful venture in accessories retail. Recognizing a niche in the market for quality buffets at a reasonable price, they opted to create a buffet
July 14, 2013 I 37
style restaurant catering to local tastes. For a fine dining buffet, the price tag of Rs999/- for head is definitely a steal, especially considering the variety and quality on offer. “We have not raised our tab for the Iftar during Ramadan, though we have added the traditional Iftari fare on top of our usual offerings”, says Noman Faisal, the head of Operations. The overall accent of the management is, says Noman Faisal, on quality and consistency. “And since Lahorites appreciate not just the cuisine but its feel and texture, we are doing quite well.” There was an extra challenge with buffet style dining in Pakistan as most people have had unsatisfying experiences in the past, perhaps explained by the over-exposure to substandard wedding banquets or just the sad fact that some restaurants here are guilty of putting a buck before their reputation and offering recycled or low quality ingredients in the hope that it will control costs. Paula and Hassan had quite a different experience. “Our own experience of eating amazing buffets all over the world leads us to think that a buffet is a premium product that offers the customer much more variety. With Maida’s commitment to quality, variety and freshness, Alhamdollilah, most of our guests are pleasantly surprised!” They insist on using quality ingredients: “We have young children. We set a simple benchmark for the quality we needed to attain and maintain. Our children can eat whatever they want from Maida and we wouldn’t hesitate for a second. We buy the best ingredients that are exactly the same as we use at home. And we buy from vendors we trust that have a reputation of marinating standards (such as Metro). Hassaan has a real obsession with cooking oil quality, and when working for Ernst and Young, he audited Rafhan in Faisalabad. Based on the commitment to quality of Rafhan witnessed many years ago, he insists they use only Rafhan Corn Oil in Maida’s Kitchen, unless a dish calls
38 I July 14, 2013
for olive oil. Quality oil is good for your health and digestion and doesn’t give you that heavy feeling even if you have gorged!” Despite there being a plethora of
restaurants offering Pakistani/ Chinese cuisine in Lahore, Maida offers a fresh spin on old favourites. So be sure to check it out sometime soon!
40 I July 14, 2013
July 14, 2013 I 41
42 I July 14, 2013
July 14, 2013 I 43
Of aspirations and hope By Durray Sadaf
A
s the sweltering heat of the sun bears down the land of Sarvech Nagar, villagers are seen trudging on the narrow paths leading to the outskirts of the village where they toil as daily wage workers. Their daily commute to neighbouring villages and market places leads
44 I July 14, 2013
them through fields of sunflowers and stretches of water with water buffalos bathing in them. The scenic representation looks straight out of a picture book, yet it manages to camouflage the difficult realities of life that these people face daily. But in spite of the challenges these people face, there are some who go against the odds and carve out niche for themselves at a tender young age. One such person is a young boy named Asadullah who
was orphaned at a young age and belongs to Sarvech Sujawali Nagar. Belonging to a poor family and living in a village which is quite backward in its approach and deprived of basic facilities, Asadullah literally has to go an extra mile just receive basic education. He walks a distance of 2 kilometers, as there is no transportation available, and attends the Government Main Sindhi Primary School Sujawal, Chandia, Thatta. The prime reason
for his attending a school in another village is that the school present in his own village is dysfunctional with teachers being absent most of the time. At present, a student of class 5 at GPS Sujawal, Asadullah has exhibited academic prowess after Right To Play’s program commenced at his school. Right To Play, an international not-for-profit organization received a generous endowment by the Royal Norwegian Embassy and commenced their interventions in the district’s selected schools since January 2011. Subsequently,their sports and play based methodology, is a wholesome method of learning and has aided in honing the children’s talent and capacity, giving them an opportunity to come forward and serve as Junior Leaders. The Junior Leader concept at Right To Play is a fairly unique one, as it offers children the opportunity to gain essential leadership skills so that they can become active participants in their communities. Out of the numerous Junior Leaders in the program, Asadullah is the one leading the way at his school. He assists his head coaches and
teachers in conducting play-based activities at his school and provides necessary support to other teachers by visiting different schools and engaging students belonging to senior classes in play-based sessions. In fact, his sessions are so interactive that he manages to draw teachers to participate along with their students. Being trained in the Red Ball Child Play Resource of the organization, he is aware of the 5 major goals of the organization and the themes they cover. He strongly feels that if children participate actively in games falling under Red Ball, their minds will develop and they will become more active in studies, while those who wish to maintain physical fitness should participate in Black Ball activities. He has noticed changes within himself due to the program and is eager to attend school whereas earlier he would find excuses to avoid school. He recollects that he would play games with his friends simply for the sake of playing and would get involved in squabbles to show his supremacy, but now after understanding the concept behind the activities, he does not fight with anyone, but explains the importance
of team-work, respect and harmony. He simply feels that ‘if we take care of each other, others will take care of us.’ Asadullah also feels that he has received many opportunities to learn about new concepts through this program and has gotten exposure to different events such as Global Hand washing Day, Cultural Day and Polio Day. He has appreciated the fact that this program does not judge children on their backgrounds and status and treats everyone equally. On a personal front, after becoming a Junior Leader, Asadullah has been able to teach his family on important issues of health, hygiene and cleanliness. He candidly says “my mother used to fetch water from the river for cooking purpose, but since I learnt that the water is not clean and can cause diseases, I told my mother to use clean water from the hand pump. Since then, she gets water from the hand pump for cleaning, cooking and washing.” He further adds that “earlier I was very shy and nervous and could not talk in front of anyone, but now I can confidently say that even if you put me on stage in front of hundreds of people, I would be able to confidently address them. And I feel all this has happened due to Right To Play’s focus on values such as respect, belief and confidence.” The writer is a Communications/ Advocacy Officer at Right To Play Provincial Office, Sindh
July 14, 2013 I 45
Books
A valued research on Rubai
The book is a commendable scholarly exercise to educate and enlighten all shades of readers on an important literary genre in a ‘historical-critical’ line of evaluation
By Syed Afsar Sajid
R
ubai (quatrain) is one of the oldest genres of Arabic, Persian and Urdu literatures. Muhammad Irshad, a veteran Urdu critic and researcher, has now come out with a collection of his research and critical essays on rubai, under the title Rubai: Tehqeeq-o-Tanqeed. The book is divided into seven chapters viz., Hasht Sau Sala Mas’ala-e-Rubai; Rubai: Technique aur Fu; Rubai: Hama-jihat Sinf-esukhan; Tehqeeqat dar Rubaiyat-eOmar Khayyam – Aik Ja’eza; Rubai: Farsi May; Rubai: Arabi May, and Rubai: Urdu May besides a short autobiographical note with author’s foreword. In the foreword, the author broaches the 800 year old controversy on the origin of rubai as a literary genre. Hafiz Mahmood Shirani and Syed Suleman Nadvi spearheaded it, the former contending that it was nonArabic in origin whereas the latter ascribed its origin to Arabic. In the opening chapter, the writer carries out an in-depth analysis of the issue and concludes that rubai existed in Arabic even before the advent of
46 I July 14, 2013
‘In his Rubaiyat, Khayam ‘challenged religious doctrines, alluded to the hypocrisy of the clerlgy, cast doubt on almost every facet of religious belief and appeared to have advocated a kind of humanism’
Persian poetry and that it was later imported into Persian from Arabic. In the subsequent chapters of the book, the author delves into the art and craft of this widely practiced but highly intricate literary genre. Its dense brevity requires a high degree of craftsmanship from its practitioner. It owes its complexity, inter alia, to the enormity of its metrical patterns also. Accent and style are quintessential to the composition of a rubai. It is a favourite mode of self-expression for poets with philosophical or mystical propensities. The renowned Persian mathematician turned poet Omar Khayyam (1048-1122) was not the founder or innovator of the genre but he did embellish and perfect it, albeit inadvertently. Edward FitzGerald’s (1809-1883) ‘free-wheeling’ translation of his Rubaiyat into English (pub. 1859) brought him (Omar Khayyam) universal fame. In his Rubaiyat, he ‘challenged religious doctrines,
alluded to the hypocrisy of the clerlgy, cast doubt on almost every facet of religious belief and appeared to have advocated a kind of humanism’. The author has ventured to determine the intrinsic worth of Khayyam’s work vis-à-vis his peers, interlocutors, interpolators, and detractors. He has also alluded to the astronomical research conducted by Swami Govinda Tirtha in his classic The Nectar of Grace (pub. 1941) wherein the latter has carried out an erudite astronomical investigation into the dates of birth and death of Omar Khayyam. Whereas the Swami agrees with most of
Khayyam’s biographers on the year 1048 AD as his date of birth, he disagrees with them on his date of demise and sets it apart as 1122 AD (516 AH) after a series of minute but convincing astronomical permutations. The author has Rubai: Tehqeeq-o-Tanqeed also dilated on the By Muhammad Irshad controversy regarding Publisher: Ilqa Publications, the number of rubaiyat actually composed by 12-K, Main Boulevard, Gulberg 2, Lahore Khayyam in the light of Pages: 226; Price: Rs.795/some elaborate research on the subject conducted by Swami Govinda and introspection bordering on Tirtha, Dr. Zukowski, Dr. Friedrich mysticism. Rosen, Dr. A.E. Christensen, Dr. In Persian, apart from highlighting C.H. Rempis, and many other the popular aphoristic lines occidental and oriental researchers. (single) from Nuzhat-ul-Majalis (a In view of the indeterminacy of voluminous anthology of Persian the issue, he has only mentioned rubaiyat), the author has reviewed averments of different authors/ a number of rubaiyat of Sheikh critics in regard to the numerical Abu Saeed Abul Khair, Khawaja actuality of Khayyam’s rubaiyat that Abdullah Ansari, Sarmad (Saeed vary from bidigital to tetradigital Kashani), Abdul Qadir Bedil, Sh. figures. Fariduddin Attar, Abdur Rahman The remaining three chapters Jami and others in the context of seek to study the evolution of the some old and new poets of rubai genre of rubai in Persian, Arabic besides dwelling on the English and Urdu literatures with a critical poet Donne (1572-1631) to conceive analysis of the contribution of some an analogy, though seemingly noted practitioners of this art in inchoate, between their themes and the three languages who, in the styles. author’s opinion, did conspicuously According to the author, the suffuse it with lyricism, aphorism, Arabic rubai is older in origin than
its Persian counterpart. Likewise its formalistic width and variety has no parallel in Persian rubai. Metrically and formally too, the Arabic rubai admits of multiple divisions. He has also discussed some select rubaiyat of noted Arabic poets Abu Yahaya Alhajri, Abul Hassan Ibnul Khal, Ibnul Fariz, Saifuddin Almashadul Misri, Abdul Raman Ibnul Jauzi, Ibne Afif Tilmasani, and Amir Salahuddin Irbali. The growth of rubai as a literary genre in Urdu has been rather retarded owing to the emergence of FitzGerald’s translated version of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam on the global literary scenario around the middle of the nineteenth century. However, the author has singled out Amjad Haiderabadi, Tiloke Chand Mahroom, Yagana Changezi, Josh Maleehabadi, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Asar Sehbai, Akbar Allahabadi, Ismail Meeruti, and Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi to measure their credentials as practitioners of rubai in Urdu. The book is thus a commendable scholarly exercise to educate and enlighten all shades of readers on an important literary genre in a ‘historical-critical’ line of evaluation.
July 14, 2013 I 47
Judging by Gender By Anita Saleem
H
ave you ever found yourself in a situation where you were intrigued to find out the gender of a person? Perhaps it was a man with long, thick curls, a woman with a ‘boy-cut’; or maybe it was a boy with a feminine physique wearing skin tight pants and a pink shirt or a woman with a broad structure and a masculine walk. Like most people, you have probably have encountered at least one such situation where you were curious to find out the gender of an individual. Why that is such an important concern for us? Why can’t we just accept the individual as a human being and move on and why do we have to know their gender? The first time we meet anyone, we are quick to form a judgment about them. If that judgment is based on the mere fact that they belong to a certain group (in this case, a particular gender) then we’ve just used what the popular Psychologist Vicki Helgeson calls ‘category based expectancies’. Here, we do not consider any other information and only base our entire conclusion on the fact that the person whom we’re interacting with is a man or
48 I July 14, 2013
a woman. For example, the minute we are introduced to a woman, we’ve already decided in our mind that she must be a pathetic driver. Or, for instance, we meet a man and instantly form an opinion that he is a strong and assertive person. What we fail to realize is that all of us are different as individuals. It’s not just our gender that defines us, but instead it is our entire personality that speaks as to who we are. A woman may be assertive, aggressive and independent while at the same time, a man can be sensitive, emotional and dependent. It’s about who that person is. Interestingly, the stereotypes that the culture has formed are so deep rooted that if we come across anyone who acts ‘different’, we form an even harsher opinion about them. This is a process best defined by the ‘counterinterference theory’ which explains why if a man yells on the streets it’s not considered a very big deal, but if a woman does the same, she will be tagged as an unruly woman. This theory can also be applied at the political level. A woman leader is more likely to be condemned for making the same mistake that a man may make. The pretext being that a woman does not fit the leadership role and is making a mistake by adopting that role in the
first place. This is the reason why many women feel uncomfortable undertaking leadership roles. Most women underestimate their ability to become a leader. Even worse, some display a fear of climbing too high up the ladder. Matina Horner identified a fear of achievement that persisted in women because of the underlying belief that achievement is inconsistent with their gender role (the expectations of the society from a woman). In Horner’s research which was based on projective tests, women disclosed that they were afraid to be achieve too much because the society would hold that against them. The same holds true for Pakistani culture where ambitious women face harsh criticism by society and are thought to compromise their other roles (as a daughter, sister, wife and most importantly as a mother). The point that I am trying to put across is that we should have ‘targetbased expectancies’ as proposed by Helgeson where our perception about an individual is based on individuating information rather than just on their gender because after there is a lot more to each one of us than our gender!
50 I July 14, 2013